Sequence Organization The Scope of Conversation Analysis
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In the example, the speaker repairs the word bell in hisher utterance by replacing it with another word doorbell. Owing to the fact that a bell can ring, it
seems alright if the speaker does not make any repair since the word bell still fits the context or meaning of the utterance. Yet, the speaker feels that she has said a
less precise term, i.e. bell, while uttering his idea, and therefore decides to repair it with the more precise one, i.e. doorbell. This situation indicates that a repair
initiation can emerge even when there is no recognizable error produced within an utterance.
There are a variety of phenomena taking place in repair, including word recovery problems, self-editing, correction propererror replacement, and some
others Levinson, 1983: 341. The example given previously is one kind of self- editing repair where the speaker of the trouble source initiates and repairs hisher
own mistake. In fact, a repair can be both initiated and resolved either by the speaker of the trouble source or by the recipientlistener Sidnell, 2010: 110. In
connection with this, repair can be categorized into some types based on who acts as the repair initiator and the repair executor. Schegloff et al. in Liddicoat, 2007:
173 propose four types of repair. They use the term self to refer to the speaker of the repairable item and other to any other participant.
1 Self-initiated self-repair
This repair occurs when the ongoing speaker initiates a trouble in hisher talk and then fixes the problem himselfherself.
e.g. N : She was giving me all the people that were gone this year I mean this
quarter you know J :
Yeah Schegloff, Jefferson Sacks in Levinson, 1983: 340
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In this dialogue, N is wrong to mention the time of an event, thus she carries out self-editing by stating I mean this quarter to correct the wrong phrase
this year. In this case, the speaker of the trouble source, N, finds the mistake himselfherself and then resolves it.
2 Self-initiated other-repair
In this type, the problem is initiated by the ongoing speaker but is repaired by the listener.
e.g. B : He had this uh Mister W- whatever k-
I can’t think of his name, Watts
on, the one that wrote that piece, A :
Dan Watts Schegloff et al. in Liddicoat, 2007: 180
As shown in the example, B seems to
have difficulty finding someone’s
name. She repeatedly tries to recollect the
person’s
name, but fails eventually. When B gives up thinking of the name, A helps with the problem by stating a
complete name of the person to whom B refers. At this point, a self-initiated other-repair occurs in which the problem indicated by the speaker is repaired by
the listener.
3 Other-initiated self-repair
This repair happens when the speaker of the trouble source, that is to say the ongoing speaker, resolves the problem indicated by the listener.
e.g. A : Have you ever tried a clinic?
B : What? A : Have you ever tried a clinic?
Schegloff, Jefferson Sacks in Levinson, 1983: 341 In this example, the listener B has a problem with the question uttered by
the speaker A. B seems not hearing the question so that she says What to indicate
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the trouble. To clear up the problem, A finally repeats hisher question to B. This situation is an instance of other-initiated self-repair in which the listener initiates
the problem and the speaker is the one who resolves it.
4 Other-initiated other-repair
In this repair, the listener acts as the problem initiator as well as the repair executor.
e.g. A : We went Saturday afternoon.
B : You mean Sunday. C : Yeah. Uhmm
we saw Max…
Chaika, 1982: 87 Here, the listener B realizes that the speaker A has mistakenly said
Saturday instead of Sunday, and therefore indicates the problem to the speaker A. Following this, the other listener, i.e. C, provides the repair by confirming
that B’s
statement is the right one. The type of the repair here is other-initiated other-repair because the listeners of the trouble source both initiates and does the repair.